The 83 members of WOZA (Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise) arrested after a peaceful protest to mark International Peace Day appeared in a routine remand hearing in Harare Magistrate’s Court on 1 December. They were further remanded out of custody to 29 December 2010.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) became aware of the abduction of our sister Jestina Mukoko on Wednesday from her home in Norton. We are advised that 15 armed men took her away in her nightdress whilst her teenage son looked on helplessly.

We firmly believe that these were state agents and wish to say that we hold Robert Mugabe and his party that is still illegally ruling accountable for this abduction. We demand her immediate and unconditional release.

We call on all solidarity networks to please call Norton police station +263 62 2120 and demand her immediate release.

To state agents who took her our message is simple: your identity will not remain a secret and you will be held accountable – we are mobilising – the world is watching.

4th December 2008
For more information, contact Jenni Williams through [email][email protected] / [email][email protected] or www.wozazimbabwe.org

The outbreak of cholera in epidemic proportions has brought Zimbabwe back to the attention of the region and the world. Zimbabwe’s complex emergency, which is now causing so much suffering, taking lives and breaking the society apart at its seams, has been several years in the making. A key factor in creating a perfect environment for the breeding and spread of the cholera bacterium has been the neglect of essential services by the ZANU PF government over the years.

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Kuwe nakaThabo,

Siyakubulisa ngesihle samakhosikazi ngolimi lwethu!

Siloba lincwadi singabomama besizwe seZimbabwe esibhekane lokuhlukuluzeka sidinga uncedo kubomakhelwane.

Ngomgqibelo mhlaka 12 April umntanakho uThabo wezakuleli eleZimbabwe ezoxoxisana loRobert Mugabe. Kasazi ukuthi baxoxisana ngani ngakho ke asisoze sigxile kungxoxo yabo ngoba singayazi njalo lesizatho singasazi ukuthi kungani uThabo waphoqelela wedlula kuleli. Kodwa sizakhuluma ngamazwi aphoswa nguThabo esuka kuleli wathi "inkinga, ziphi inkinga." Lamazwi asicaphula ngakho sicela umkhuze, umbuyise ebuntwini uThabo.

IZimbabwe ibhekane lobunzima lenkinga kwezomnotho, kwezombusazwe, kanye lokungahlaliseki nje jikelele. Kasenelisi njengabomama ukunakekela abantwabethu sibanike ukudla kathathu ngelanga, ukuthola ukudla kunzima konke lokhu uThabo ukutshaya indiva.

Ukhetho esisuka kulo lwengeze ngamandla ukuhlupheka kithi lanxa ukhetho lwaqhutshwa ngokuthula sihlukuluzekile engqondweni ngokwala kukaRobert ukuthi impumelo kamongameli yaziswe uzulu.

Abantu asihlalisekanga ngani ngoba isibalo samapholisa sesandile ezigabeni ikhulukazi emaphandleni lokhu kusenza sidlele evalweni.

NakaThabo siyacela ngesisa umkhuze uThabo ngaloludaba umtshele axwaye ukukhuluma engahluzanga emazwi akhe, asuke asicasule kakhulu. Sicela umkhuze singakamkhuzi thina. Untinte umfazi, untinte imbokodo. Tshela uThabo ame acabange abesekhuluma engabozilulaza phakathi kwamanye amadoda.

Yithi omakhelwane

Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)

Loosely translated into English

Dear Mother of Thabo, We greet you in the name of sisterhood and in our mother tongue (isindebele)!

We are writing to you as mother of the suffering masses of Zimbabwe to ask for your help.

On Saturday 12 April 2008, your child Thabo Mbeki came to Zimbabwe to meet Robert Mugabe. We don't know what they discussed or the real reason he came to Zimbabwe so we cannot comment about that but we want to comment about the words he used when he was leaving.

He said, "There is no crisis in Zimbabwe. We find this has provoked us. Please correct him.

Zimbabwe is in an economic, political and social crisis. We cannot afford three meals a day or even find the basic commodities to feed our children. The political crisis has been worsened by the recent election. Although the election day was peaceful we have been annoyed by the refusal of Mugabe to release presidential results. Socailly the amount of police around the streets and in our rural areas make life very tense.

NaThabo please correct you son about these issues and tell him to refrain from hisrespecting us by his comments.

Please discipline him before we have to do so.

Your neighbours, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
.

A Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) summary of a report that looks at the suppression of women's political voices

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/356/46868woza.jpgWomen of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the political violence experienced by their members in Harare on Wednesday 19 March 2008 at an event attended by diplomats, civic society leaders and members of WOZA and MOZA. The report is entitled "The effects of fighting repression WITH LOVE".

The report is a result of research conducted by WOZA on what violations its members have gone through as women human rights defenders and who the perpetrators of these abuses are. The report was launched to make public the findings and to urgently draw attention to the risks faced by women activists as Zimbabwe braces itself for an election. It is intended that those who read the report will be motivated to take action to remedy the damage done to millions of people's lives by a violent dictatorship.

The meeting was chaired by WOZA's partners, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who vocalised their praise for the detail in the report and for the need for the women human rights defenders to be respected and for there to be justice for the abuses. ZLHR Board member and lawyer, Sarudzai Njerere said, 'the report is an important tool in documenting what Zimbabweans have experienced' and that 'we should all join WOZA in standing up for social justice".

Prominent activist and WOZA trustee, Mary Ndlovu launched the report by giving a brief outline of its contents. She highlighted that it encompasses the police response to peaceful protests by WOZA; that the majority of women interviewed reported multiple human rights violations; that it is apparent that police would like to intimidate and deter women from participation and that the police are in violation of domestic and regional professional codes and are committing criminal law offences all of which call for punishment although none seems to be forthcoming due to a breakdown and partial way the justice system now operates.

She went on to point out that the Zimbabwean government officials who give order to beat or detain the human rights defenders render Zimbabwe in violation of its own constitution and in breach of obligations under international law.

Two WOZA members also gave testimonies of their experiences at the hands of the Uniformed Branch and Law and Order department of the ZRP. One woman in the company of her four-year-old daughter, testified about their arrest and detention in horrid conditions for three days in 2004, well over the 48hour detention period permitted under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Her daughter was only three months old at the time and she only had two nappies with her and had to fight to access water to wash them when they became soiled. When members of WOZA tried to send disposable nappies in for her baby, police officers misappropriated them and she never received them. Despite this and further arrests and beatings, she remains an active member of WOZA.

Another woman testified that she had been abducted from her home in Bulawayo with her 18-month-old grandchild at 4am by Law and Order officers. They threatened to kill her by throwing her and the child in a dam. She had also been seriously beaten across the breasts by police and had to undergo extended medical treatment. These testimonies are indicative of the experiences of peaceful activists and reflective of the physical and mental torture they undergo in fighting for their basic freedoms to be realised.

WOZA National Coordinator, Jenni Williams, outlined the recommendations highlighted in the report. She also went on to say that in the light of WOZA's recent experience in Bulawayo on the 8th March 2008, International Women's Day, where over 50 members were brutalised, just weeks before the upcoming 29 March election, a free and fair climate for elections does not exist.

The report calls on the Zimbabwean government to immediately end violence against its citizens and on the Zimbabwe Republic Police to honour their commitment to the Police Act and the SARPCCO Code of Conduct for police officers. It also calls on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support human rights defenders rather than oppressive governments that deny people their domestically and internationally guaranteed rights and on the African Union (AU) to isolate representatives of the Zimbabwe government and any other government that fails to abide by its obligations under international law to respect human rights.

The international community was also called on to recognize the contribution of WOZA members as human rights defenders, and assist in the documentation and publicising of violations so that justice may be served in the future.

A further recommendation is for a Transitional Justice programme. The reports reads, "We call on Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans alike to assist in putting into place a mechanism which satisfies the wishes of the Zimbabwean people to see not retribution, but justice, truth and reconciliation, so that the guilty can do penance and the victims can feel healed of the many wounds they have suffered at the hands of state agents."

Whilst the report made mention of the trauma experienced by WOZA women as a result of their experiences, it was felt that the findings are significant enough to be released in a separate report due for release soon. What is clear however is that the women have experienced more trauma in an independent Zimbabwe than in pre-Independence period.

*To read the full report, please visit:

** Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Thirteen members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), arrested in Bulawayo on separate incidents in June 2004, will stand trial at the Western Commonage and Tredgold Provincial Magistrates Courts on 3 and 4 October 2006 respectively at 8:30am.The first trial on 3 October concerns four women arrested at Matshobana Hall on June 16 2004 while conducting meeting on Self-Help Projects. They face charges under the Public Order and Security Act.